[quote=RichnStacy;11636]First, thank you to all who have responded to this thread on nocturnal dialysis. I apologize that I have not responded before today, but I have been in the hospital.
I have a new question that somewhat concerns me, though, that I would like to get feedback on. While in the hospital, I was under the care of my cardiologist, but my nephrologist also followed my treatment and made daily visits to see me; this was not my regular nephrologist, but one of his partners.
In the meantime, I missed my monthly clinic visit with my regular doctor, who I wanted to discuss nocturnal dialysis with, and decided that it would probably be a good idea to make an appointment to speak with him in his office; however, we were denied this opportunity because I was already a dialysis patient and they only see people for evaluations in the office. I was told that if I want to speak with him, then it will have to be done in the clinic setting. FYI… he doesn’t come back to the clinic again until mid-January.
Is this something that occurs regularly and something that is widely practiced among nephrology groups… that you cannot make an appointment to see your doctor in the office? What if there was something personal that I wanted to discuss with him and did not want the social worker, dietitian, and nurse present during this discussion?
Stacy and I were just somewhat shocked at this latest occurrence and wondered if this was a normal practice for most nephrologists.
Thanks again for all of the responses already to the nocturnal question.
Richard[/quote]
That sounds odd to me as well, as Bill stated. That did happen to me at my last dialysis clinic I was at…at first they were allowing one a month office checkup visits, then they told me no more…that they will see me on the floor while on dialysis. That’s something I did not like at all…no privacy…everyone on the floor was there and seeing, hearing everything. That’s something I am totally against. I am glad I am not there anymore.
I think some Nephrologists do this to cut down on workload. They may have too many patients to assist so they take new patients as priority and all others who are on dialysis already last.
With a little patience hang in there and wait till you get a chance to talk to your Doctor. Luck!